The Friends of Kunstsammlung and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen have announced South African artist Senzeni Marasela (b.1977) as the first recipient of the new K21 Global Art Award.
The annual K21 Global Art Award was established by the Friends of K20K21 in cooperation with Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. The award recognizes and celebrates the vision and courage of artists at the beginning or in the middle of their careers. It is awarded to internationally recognized artists under the age of forty-five. The award, which is a part of the museum’s programmatic collection expansion, adds significant international positions to the holdings of K21 through a substantial purchase.
The K21 Global Art Award nominating jury is made up of five distinguished museum directors and curators from across the world. The 2022/23 jury consists of Koyo Kouoh (Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town), Oluremi Onabanjo (The Museum of Modern Art, New York), Omar Kholeif (Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE), Doryun Chong (M+, Hong Kong), and Jochen Volz (Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil).
Senzeni Marasela is an interdisciplinary artist whose oeuvre encompasses performance, photography, video, embroidered textiles, printmaking, and installation. Her work has been exhibited widely in South Africa, Europe, and the United States and is included in important international collections. In 2015, Marasela was represented at the 56th Venice Biennale.
The Friends of K20K21 will purchase works of art by Marasela for a high five-figure amount. This year, they acquired works worth 70,000 euros. The Reydan + Roger Weiss Foundation provided major financial support to the Friends for the implementation of the K21 Global Art Award.
The work acquired for the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is a red dress from Marasela. The red dress was a gift for Theodora Mthetyane, Marasela’s fictional alter ego, from her husband Gebane when he moved from the remote countryside to Johannesburg to find a job. The ornately printed Iseshweshwe dress is worn by married women in Xhosa culture and is popular among the rural population.
Theodora wore it every day for years as she waited for Gebane to return. Marasela, who uses Theodora to allude to her own mother’s narrative and the struggle of many South African women during apartheid, wore the clothing every day for six years (2013-2019). She personified Theodora’s story, dedicated to the position of waiting, loneliness, and hope, and came across many reactions ranging from identification to prejudice, in her moving performance.
The ‘Theodora Mthetyane red dress’ is part of Marasela’s ‘Waiting for Gebane’ project which led to her first major institutional solo exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA in 2020. The group of works presented for the K21 Global Art Award was from the ‘Waiting for Gebane’ project. This work of art will then be given on permanent loan to the collection of K20K21 and will be presented at K21.
Image courtesy of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art/Ocula
“I am delighted that my work is having an impact here in Düsseldorf – and hopefully soon beyond the city limits. All my adult life I have worked with dedication as an artist, and I see this award as an incentive to work with even more conviction and determination. I am grateful to the jury of the K21 Global Art Award and the Friends of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen for believing in my artistic practice. I hope that this is the beginning of great discussions and co-operations. I also hope that this is a journey that will inspire young artists* around the world, especially in Africa.”
– Senzeni Marasela
